Could be a life saving

[TopSilver]

If you're wearing a high grade mask or respirator it will offer you protection, if it's fitted properly (if it's not well fitted it will still offer some protection but will obviously be less effective).

If you're wearing a regular paper mask or cloth mask it isn't supposed to protect you - the idea is that your mask protects me and my mask protects you. The concept is that if you cough the droplets that would otherwise be thrown into the air are caught by your mask, and likewise if I cough the droplets are caught by my mask. If I'm not wearing a mask and cough the droplets carrying the virus are small enough that a regular paper mask is unlikely to stop them.

Perhaps unsurprisingly since people started wearing masks there's less observance of physical distance, although it may be that people are starting to grow weary of it all and going about their lives as normally as possible.

Seems to be it more-so just protects the person wearing them from breathing in any type of contaminated air. Rather then keeping the person from spreading it. More-so just protects the person wearing it from contracting the virus. Can't imagine what it would be like to have a used mask. I can imagine in other countries people having to share eachothers masks and contaminating eachother. In reference to countries that are 3rd world or don't have that much money. Even for the cheap kind of masks you'd be surprised. I can imagine this is actually something happening in places like Africa.

 

[tango]

Seems to be it more-so just protects the person wearing them from breathing in any type of contaminated air. Rather then keeping the person from spreading it. More-so just protects the person wearing it from contracting the virus. Can't imagine what it would be like to have a used mask. I can imagine in other countries people having to share eachothers masks and contaminating eachother. In reference to countries that are 3rd world or don't have that much money. Even for the cheap kind of masks you'd be surprised. I can imagine this is actually something happening in places like Africa.

A scrap of fabric over your mouth doesn't protect you - the virus travels on droplets that are small enough to pass right through it. It might happen to catch some droplets but doesn't offer any meaningful protection. It seems like standing behind a chicken wire fence while someone shoots at you with a BB gun - the fence might catch the odd pellet but you wouldn't want to bank on it.

Except the message gets confusing depending on what source you read, and I read an article where the health secretary from one of the states talked of "protecting yourself and others" despite most official advice I've seen saying that my mask protects you and your mask protects me.

Wearing a used mask that hadn't been thoroughly cleaned would be more risky than wearing no mask at all. A used mask not only doesn't protect you but also introduces the potential that the mask is itself infected. In remote parts of Africa they probably don't wear masks at all. In remote parts of western countries a mask is more about posturing than achieving anything and in places where they just don't have resources to waste they won't bother with posturing.

 

[hedrick]

I don't think there have been more rules for some time, unless there are states that got to the game late. NY and NJ are planning "reopening" and states not as hard hit are doing it. Governors in NY and NJ can't commit to a date because no prediction of the course has been accurate, but at least in NJ (which probably reflects NY) it's pretty clear that things will change by the end of May, and maybe a week earlier. I don't think there were any goal posts previously to move, except in statements from Trump.

I can't speak for other states but NJ the main issues are (1) we don't want to overload hospitals and doctors; even if you are willing to write off covid victims, what happens if you break your arm? (2) we need to be able to test enough people to know whether problems are coming back. If we can do testing reasonably we can avoid a general closedown and attack just those specific groups or areas.

I don't know what I'd do in lower density areas, but in NJ and NY it's hard to see that we had any choice. Other states can make their own decisions, and I think they are.

 

[tango]

I don't think there have been more rules for some time, unless there are states that got to the game late. NY and NJ are planning "reopening" and states not as hard hit are doing it. Governors in NY and NJ can't commit to a date because no prediction of the course has been accurate, but at least in NJ (which probably reflects NY) it's pretty clear that things will change by the end of May, and maybe a week earlier. I don't think there were any goal posts previously to move, except in statements from Trump.

I can't speak for other states but NJ the main issues are (1) we don't want to overload hospitals and doctors; even if you are willing to write off covid victims, what happens if you break your arm? (2) we need to be able to test enough people to know whether problems are coming back. If we can do testing reasonably we can avoid a general closedown and attack just those specific groups or areas.

I don't know what I'd do in lower density areas, but in NJ and NY it's hard to see that we had any choice. Other states can make their own decisions, and I think they are.

A large part of the issue is that even New York state contains the hugely dense metropolis of NYC, and remote rural counties further north. To shut down the entire state because NYC is overloaded is absurd. Even looking at what models predicted it seems that none of them have come very close to what actually happened. Maybe maintaining a physical distance has made more of a difference than anyone predicted, or maybe the virus just isn't as bad as initial predictions. From here about all we've got is guesswork which, sadly, includes guessing how long people denied the fundamental right to provide for themselves will tolerate the situation.

Likewise PA has the metropolis of Philadelphia (and the smaller Pittsburgh) that, unsurprisingly, are the worst affected parts of the state. And then there are rural counties in the middle and to the north that have less than a dozen cases in total, and yet are still shut down while the fuhrer decides what to do next. Why a remote county with less than a dozen cases since this whole farce began needs to stay shut down with people denied the chance to earn a living remains unclear.

As one person put it, we did what was asked and flattened the curve. Why can't we start reopening? The endless posturing about not opening until testing is available looks like nothing more than a game of blame-shifting and risks generating civil unrest. Already some reports indicate armed supporters standing outside businesses that opened despite the lockdown enduring in Texas. People who have been ordered to go without a paycheck for six weeks with no end in sight other than some vaguely defined "we'll get to it, eventually" promises from governors aren't going to listen and comply forever. To be honest I'm surprised things haven't already got ugly, especially in more urban areas.

And through it all there's not a shred of consistency. It's apparently safe to go to Walmart but at the same time it's deadly for one person wearing a mask to stand behind another person wearing a mask and cut their hair in an otherwise empty room. Building a house isn't "life sustaining" but a beer distributor is. I can safely cut my grass but it's so dangerous for someone else to cut the same grass that it has to be banned indefinitely.

I'm just hoping there's some substance to claims that the attorney general might go after governors who exceeded their authority and violated constitutional rights.

 

[hedrick]

Cuomo has indicated that upstate NY will likely open sooner.

I think the medical people were recommending distancing everywhere. Opening up is supposed to depend upon contact tracing, which couldn't be done anywhere in mid-March. If you assume there's enough testing to do at least minimal contact tracing now, then you can start to open places with a small number of cases such as upper NY.

 

[Lamb]

I was looking at data today and half the deaths in my area were in nursing homes. But we can't open up yet????

 

[tango]

Cuomo has indicated that upstate NY will likely open sooner.

I think the medical people were recommending distancing everywhere. Opening up is supposed to depend upon contact tracing, which couldn't be done anywhere in mid-March. If you assume there's enough testing to do at least minimal contact tracing now, then you can start to open places with a small number of cases such as upper NY.

"...will likely open sooner"

Sounds like a politician's weasel words. Unless he's saying something concrete like "rural areas will open on X date" it's just waffle.

Maintaining more of a distance from people still makes sense, although in fairness it's rare that I have any desire to get much closer than six feet to anyone unless I'm specifically having a conversation with them (and even then I wouldn't expect to get much closer).

Of course instead of "you can start to open, if..." we could try "you can treat adults as adults and let them decide for themselves". We've always been allowed to drink, and we've been allowed to drive, we just have to choose one or the other. Likewise we can choose to go to crowded nightclubs or we can choose to visit Grandma in the nursing home, we just have to pick one or the other. It's amazing how nobody thinks about the possibility of death on the roads, or death at the hands of some idiot on the street, but as soon as there's a virus with a 99% or better survival rate the talk is whether we can open, as everyone cries out for Nanny State to save us.

 

[Krissy Cakes]

NOWHERE around here can masks be purchased..... and when I checked the internet, "delivery" was literally MONTHS away.

My talented wife MADE a bunch. According to the instructions, they are actually more effective than the non-surgical ones some people somehow got.


She's also shared this video:

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LOVE that video!

 

[hedrick]

"...will likely open sooner"

Sounds like a politician's weasel words. Unless he's saying something concrete like "rural areas will open on X date" it's just waffle.

I was trying to avoid giving a list of dates, which vary by State. The news is full of states and localities opening things. Even NY and NJ have taken the first steps, though they are small ones. In NJ that's reopening parks and golf courses. Also some beaches (decisions there are made locally, not by the State). Non-essential businesses other than retail were never closed in NJ. The big deal for us is going to be schools, and when and how to do retail. Unlike some other states, we haven't closed schools through the end of the year. Whether they will reopen May 15 will depend upon the medical statistics at the time.

NY has announced changes starting May 15. https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisett...r-activities-open-for-residents/#4c16c4a5296d. It does say that upstate will be treated differently than NYC.

NJ is also open to doing things differently by region, but with the north stabilizing and rising cases in central and south, that may not happen.

 

[tango]

I was trying to avoid giving a list of dates, which vary by State.

Your post talked of Cuomo saying how upstate NY may open sooner. My comment was about how vague he was and it sounds like another politician making it up as he goes along while pretending it's a detailed process. Unless Cuomo is suddenly the governor of multiple states, or "upstate NY" means something else, this sounds like backpedalling.

The news is full of states and localities opening things. Even NY and NJ have taken the first steps, though they are small ones. In NJ that's reopening parks and golf courses.

Why do golf courses need to be closed at all? It sounds like the silliness here, where apparently people can be trusted to maintain a distance from each other when out walking on trails (despite it being physically impossible to give someone coming the other way six feet), yet as soon as they sit on a long bench under a pavilion that's 20 feet square they'll apparently get on top of each other, so the pavilions are closed. And perish the thought someone might need the bathroom - they are closed as well. Because, you know, people often try to find out how many people you can fit in a bathroom.

In my immediate area the local supervisors have taken the crucial step of closing the pavilions in the local park. They kept the walking trail open. Presumably the same applies - the people who keep a safe distance on the walking trail will suddenly have the urge to get as close as possible as soon as there's a roof over their head. I guess it helps them feel important.

Also some beaches (decisions there are made locally, not by the State). Non-essential businesses other than retail were never closed in NJ. The big deal for us is going to be schools, and when and how to do retail. Unlike some other states, we haven't closed schools through the end of the year. Whether they will reopen May 15 will depend upon the medical statistics at the time.

It seems your state also suffers from the idea that a politician knows better than a business owner whether the business can operate safely. Just as one size doesn't fit all across a state it's absurd to think that one size fits all across business types. "Retail" could mean Walmart on Black Friday, or it could mean the local store that has three customers in it. "Hair care" could mean a barber's shop with people sat shoulder-to-shoulder on a long bench with others standing waiting, or it could mean a private salon with one hairdresser and one customer.

NY has announced changes starting May 15. https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisett...r-activities-open-for-residents/#4c16c4a5296d. It does say that upstate will be treated differently than NYC.

It's still full of political opinion as to which businesses are "essential". I guess it's just too bad for people employed in businesses the fuhrer doesn't think are essential - presumably they can just go without an income a while longer, right?

NJ is also open to doing things differently by region, but with the north stabilizing and rising cases in central and south, that may not happen.

I've become more than a little skeptical when governors talk about being open to doing something. It sounds like just another promise of "jam tomorrow", except when peoples' livelihoods are concerned it's more like "perhaps we'll be gracious enough to allow you to earn a living tomorrow but, you know, maybe we'll expect you to stay unemployed a while longer".

 

[FredVB]

I am thankfully still well. Now that there is going to be easing of restrictions, and more people will be going out again, the same virus pandemic is still around, and being vulnerable, I will sensibly try to still avoid being around any and not going out except for really needed things.

Because of my vulnerability, which involves my breathing system, I am realizing very lately that I would be continually wearing a facemask, and maybe something more adequate than what I use now, when I go out, likely from now on, as threat from viruses are probably never going to be entirely gone now.